FORT
LAUDERDALE, Florida – The Organization of American States’ General
Assembly ended Tuesday night with the hemisphere’s foreign ministers
adopting by acclamation the Declaration of Florida, entitled “Delivering
the Benefits of Democracy.”

In the Declaration, the foreign ministers and other heads of delegation
from the 34 member states undertook to continuing building on the ideals
and commitments set forth in the OAS Charter and in the Inter-American
Democratic Charter, and to “working together to advance shared political
and economic values to make this a Hemisphere of democratic, stable, and
prosperous nations.”

The foreign ministers emphasized that, for democracy to prosper,
governments must be responsive to the legitimate aspirations of their
people, and must work to provide their people with the tools and
opportunities to improve their lives.

The Declaration also states that the Secretary General shall be
instructed, after engaging in consultations with the Permanent Council,
and taking into account the purposes and principles of the OAS Charter,
in particular that of promoting and consolidating representative
democracy, to devise proposals for timely, effective, balanced, gradual
initiatives for cooperation, as appropriate, in addressing situations
that might affect the workings of the political process of democratic
institutions or the legitimate exercise of power, in keeping with the
provisions of Charter IV of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, with
respect for the principle of nonintervention and the right of
self-determination of peoples, and to present those proposals to the
Permanent Council.

In the document, the General Assembly also stressed that “the Secretary
General may bring to the attention of the Permanent Council, in the
exercise of the authority contained in the OAS Charter and pursuant to
the Inter-American Democratic Charter, those situations likely to lead
to action under the said Charters.”

Encouragement is given to the Working Group to Negotiate the Social
Charter of the Americas and a Plan of Action, so that its work may serve
effectively to strengthen existing OAS instruments on democracy,
integral development, and the fight against poverty.

Among other things, the foreign ministers reaffirmed that, as the
hemisphere’s premier multilateral forum, “the OAS has a unique role in
strengthening democratic institutions and consolidating representative
democracy, with due respect for the principle of nonintervention.”

And, recalling that the commitments made in the Millennium Declaration
have become—at the hemispheric level and globally—accepted benchmarks of
broader progress, the Declaration notes that these benchmarks have been
embraced by donors, developing countries, civil society and major
development institutions alike.